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Here is my personal experience. We live on the western outskirts of Las Terrenas, in Coson. We cannot get the city of Las Terrenas to collect our trash. Since we have lived in this house the past 2 years I have had to throw my stinking trash bags in my truck to run it down the road to a makeshift dump site to throw my trash bags into a pile. Yes, this is on the side of the road, visible to traffic. Periodically someone lights a match to it and it burns. I can see the smoke from my house. I probably don't have to tell you how bad that is on many levels, especially environmentally. I cannot vote here and have little leverage to get anything done about it. There are about a dozen households in our small community. I have polled some of our neighbors and they simply leave it to their gardeners or other workers to "take it away". They have no idea where it is taken, but I suspect it is not an approved dump site.

Sadly I think this situation is normal here. Since we live at elevation there are times I can see six or seven fires burning around Las Terrenas at one time. Yes, these are trash piles.

This topic is a big deal here for expats and tourists!

It is the biggest complaint almost always.

When you live in a country where the biggest % live in working poverty and something like 22% live in extreme poverty, waste management is not high on the priority list.

We have bad garbage dump management

We have bad waste water management

We have bad waste collection management

At fault is government,  corruption, lack of education etc!

There is almost no recycling.  In many cases, see Rocky post, no real collection services!

In some areas of the country "huelgas" turn violent over lack of garbage collection

True story - years ago some country donated like 300 of these awesome large garbage collection containers to the city of Puerto Plata .  They all got painted and delivered. They soon were filled!  Yayyyyyyy, Right?

Wrong.  No one thought about buying the trucks needed to lift and empty them!  They sat for months in the streets.  Now they rot in a field outside the city!

I was going to joke this topic header is missing the words "Lack of".. The island is full of waste that is thrown over the fence or dropped at the spot. This mentality is still pretty bad.

However low level recycling actually works good here as long as there is economical value. Anything that can be reused or repurposed will be gone soon when you put it in the street. Everything else is just dumped. I do see that garbage trucks are employed in more areas nowadays. It does make some difference, better than nothing. However I do wonder where these trucks dump their waste. And when people complain about mosquitos they do not make the connection to the garbage they dump. Overall it is pretty bad and it is the mentality that affects a lot in this country. In residencial areas it is a lot better but these have rules that are enforced. Without enforcement or benefits it is hard to change behavior.

Behavior changes have to start with the kids.

Yes planner I see some of the news reports from Santo Domingo showing the trash piling up on the streets. Residents there get very angry, as they should! 

Of course it is a very visible problem, and it is literally the first thing visitors mention when they come here. Not to mention the sanitation and health issues. But, it will take locals to make something happen. Most of them are used to the environment as it is, so as you mention the young people need to start caring.

@planner yep and I bet someone got a kick back on the dumbsters purchase why no one thought of the trucks....just saying...sad..

My wife and I have a house en el campo outside of La Vega. The garbage guys come around every week and empty our two 55-gallon garbage cans. I have no idea where it goes. 16 USD/month.

    My wife and I have a house en el campo outside of La Vega. The garbage guys come around every week and empty our two 55-gallon garbage cans. I have no idea where it goes. 16 USD/month.
   

    -@crabelramble

That's a deal. I would gladly pay that.

Yeah, who knows what they do with it.